Strawberry Swing
by Xanaischemical
Summary: Miku and Gumi have been meeting under a swing by a patch of strawberries since they were both little children. As time goes by, they grow more and more distant, losing touch for months at a time. After Miku finds out what is actually pulling Gumi away, she does what she can to save her from her broken home. Warnings inside. Oneshot. Based on the song 'Strawberry Swing' by Coldplay.


**Uhm. Trigger warnings: self-harm, abuse, hints of rape, uhm, BUT IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING.**

* * *

_They were sitting,_  
_They were sitting on the strawberry swing._  
_Every moment was so precious._

A young child rested on a tall swing, which was tied to the tallest tree in the large grove. She was slowly swinging back and forth above a patch of sweet strawberries, waiting for her friend. The warm sunlight gracefully fell on her green hair, which was the contrast to her bright magenta eyes, eyes that were filled to the brim with curiosity, wonder, and youthful happiness.

As the girl looked down at the bustles of red-pink berries, another young girl called out to her from behind. Pink eyes turned to look at the curls of teal and the sky blue eyes that accompanied it.

"Ah! Miku! I've been waiting here for you!" The green haired love yelled back. "Come sit with me!"

Miku, the younger of the two, reached the other girl, sitting next to her. "Don't go too high, Gumi. You know I don't like it when you go up high!"

Gumi laughed, magenta eyes twinkling. "I won't, I promise!"

_They were sitting;_  
_They were talking under the strawberry swing._  
_Everybody was for fighting..._  
_Wouldn't wanna waste a thing._

"I made you this, Miku!" The grass was littered with flowers outside of a sparkling mansion beside a patch of strawberries and a large swing, along with two children, one with hair matching the grass and the other matching the teal flowers.

"Oh, Gumi, it's so cute!" Gumi placed the crown of flowers on Miku's head of long green-blue hair with a wink of a pink eye. "Thank you!" Miku exclaimed, giggling.

Gumi laughed with her. "The flowers really do fit you, Miku. You look beautiful."

Miku gasped softly, looking up a young man standing behind Gumi. "Gumi, I thought I told you not to pick our flowers." The man sighed.

Gumi slowly looked behind her to see the blue haired man, frowning. "I was making Miku a crown, because she's my princess. She needed a crown, Kaito."

Miku's smile and pink cheeks was enough to bring Gumi relief and light flutters in her stomach, no matter what Kaito said. "I'm her knight."

"Girls can't be knights," Kaito scoffed.

"Who are you to say that?" Gumi stood, magenta ryes flaring with a glare. "I can be whatever I want to! You can't change that!"

"Don't yell at your elder."

"What are you, maybe three years older than me?"

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Leave, Gumi, before I have to start yelling, and I don't want to get Meiko involved in this. You know she'll call your sister."

Gumi paused, then gently kissed Miku's forehead. "Your knight will come back soon, princess. Don't fret."

_Cold, cold water bring me 'round. _  
_Now my feet won't touch the ground..._  
_Cold, cold water, what ya say?_  
_When it's such…_  
_It's such a perfect day..._  
_It's such a perfect day._

Gumi sat on the strawberry swing, waiting for Miku. Her twelfth birthday had just passed. She had invited Miku to come over, but she never received a response. She hadn't seen or heard from the teal haired beauty in months.

She swung back and forth slightly as the sky grew cloudy and dark. When the first raindrops came down, her movement stopped. She buried her face in her soft hands, shaking as she cried. She attempted to make her sobs silent.

Gumi came here every day to sit on the swing by the strawberry patch and the bed of teal flowers. She would wait hours and hours for Miku to come out of the mansion behind the tall swing, but she never did. Drenched in the sky's tears, Gumi curled up on the swing, bringing her knees to her chest and softly crying into them.

"Gumi! Gumi, there you are!" A familiar voice rang out from behind, a voice that only made her want to cry harder. "Leave me alone!" "Gumi, you'll catch a cold!" A warm blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. "I'm taking you back home. You can either walk or I'll carry you," her brother said calmly.

"No... I'm waiting. I'm waiting for Miku to come out." Next to Gumi was a flower crown, waiting for Miku to put it on. "I make her one of these every day so that she can be my princess again."

"Gumi, you're too old for that now. She can't be your princess anymore." Her brother lifted her into his arms, long violet hair stiff in the rain.

_I remember,_  
_We were walking up to the strawberry swing._  
_I can't wait until the morning,_  
_Wouldn't wanna change a thing..._

Miku was now thirteen, and she had snuck out of her room via the window at eleven at night. She slowly jogged towards the strawberry swing, looking for her old best friend. Maybe Gumi had forgotten about her. Maybe Gumi had better things to do, or had new friends. She was two years older, after all, and had more of a normal family than Miku's own rich fortune. Maybe that made Gumi more approachable then Miku.

Miku lifted her nightgown, sitting on the rusted metal swing. She took a breath and swung back and forth, trying to go as high as Gumi had when they were children.

"I thought ya didn't like goin' up that high."

Miku turned to her side, slowing the swing. There was Gumi, though her hair was a mess and she was wearing shorts and a heavy turtleneck, not a dress. "Gumi, shouldn't you be wearing something more warm? It's winter, you know."

"I could say the same to ya, Miku. Ya only in a nightgown." Gumi sat next to Miku. "Can this thing still hold all m'weight?" "Gumi, you're not much heavier than you were a few years ago." "Ya'd be surprised."

Miku was confused, not only by Gumi's speech pattern, but something seemed off about her. "...look at me."

Gumi looked up, but not at Miku. "Why?"

"Just look at me, Gumi, please."

Gumi slowly turned to Miku, though kept her eyes averted from her face. "Whazzup?"

"...your eyes. What happened to them?" Instead of the beautiful magenta they had been, they were now a teal, matching Miku's hair.

"Brother 'n sis don't want my eyes lookin' stupid anymore. They gave me these contacts. Ain't they pretty?" The last part was strained, like Gumi had forced herself to say it. Miku knew Gumi was always so proud of her eye color, and she completely understood how she felt.

Gumi teared up slightly, rubbing at her neck. "Yeah..."

"Why are you speaking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're hiding something."

Gumi tensed. "It's nothin' to worry 'bout, Miku. I promise." She made eye contact.

"I know something is wrong. Why can't you tell me?" Miku paused. "Isn't a knight supposed to be loyal to his princess?"

Gumi burst into tears, soft sobs escaping her. As she curled over herself, the warm collar of her turtleneck slipped down a bit. She had bruises on her neck. "Gumi!" Miku pulled her to sit up straight. "Who is doing this to you?! Who is hurting you?!"

Gumi got off the swing, shaking her head frantically. "It's nothin'! I'm tellin' ya not to worry 'bout me, 'kay?!"

Before Miku could stop her, Gumi had run off.

Snow fell softly around Miku as she stood, paralyzed. Someone was hurting Gumi. _Her_ Gumi. And it was not okay.

_People moving all the time,_  
_Inside a perfectly straight line;_  
_Don't you wanna curve away?_  
_When it's such…_  
_It's such a perfect day..._  
_It's such a perfect day..._

Gumi sat in her room, headphones blasting her favorite songs. She rested on her bed. She was now sixteen, and her siblings were her guardians now. She rolled and turned her back to the door, turning her music up louder. Maybe if she blew out her eardrums she wouldn't hear her sister screaming at her anymore.

Her left hand rubbed at her right forearm where dozens of cuts- old and new- were scabbed and scarred. She held a pillow close. She couldn't cry, she knew it, because if her brother or sister caught her crying she would most likely be yelled at, or hit, or worse.

Her door opened after a few knocks, her brother coming inside. "Gumi?" No response. "Gumi?" Still no response; she couldn't hear him over her headphones. Her brother snuck over to her, lifting a headphone and whispering in her ear more sensually than necessary, "Gumi~ You should get ready for dinner."

Gumi squealed and sat up quickly. Her face was a dark red, throwing her headphones. "God damnit, Bro!"

"I told you to call me brother. Not 'bro'."

"Yeah, whatever." She situated herself. "Why don't I just call ya by your name, Gakupo?"

"Because I said not to, Gumi."

Gumi rolled her eyes. "Okay, cause that is a totally legit reason."

Gakupo paused. "What has gotten into you lately? So feisty and rebellious."

"I hate you, that's why. Now get outta my room."

Gakupo sighed and was about to leave, before he noticed the cuts on Gumi's right wrist, stretching to her forearm as she stretched to get dressed.

"Gumi, what are those?"

"What?"

"On your wrist."

Gumi shrugged. "Exactly what they look like."

He had enough of her sass. He pinned her to the wall across the room. "What the hell are you doing to yourself?!"

"I don't have to answer to you!" Gumi struggled to push him off, but stopped when he kissed her neck. "Gumi," he murmured by her ear, "I don't want to see you hurt yourself. Where do you keep them?"

"K-keep what?" She growled.

"You know what." Gakupo softly sucked on her neck, enough to leave a hickey. "Don't play around with me."

"T-tch..." The razors. She shuddered. "In a box."

"Where is that box?"

"Hell if I tell you- ah!" Gakupo had bitten down on the soft flesh, not enough to bleed, but enough to leave a mark. "Tell me."

"No!"

"Then you know what's coming next, don't you? Is this really what you want? You know I'll find them anyway. You can avoid this punishment."

Gumi didn't budge. "You won't be able to find them."

"Get on the bed and open your legs."

_Now the sky could be blue;_  
_I don't mind._  
_Without you, it's a waste of time._

Miku had waited at the swing, now sixteen. Gumi was eighteen, and Miku hadn't heard from the older girl in over a year. Ever since she found that bruising on Gumi's neck, Gumi had been avoiding her. She understood. She just needed to find out who did that to her.

As Miku looked down, all the teal flowers had died, and the strawberries plants had withered away. It was as if Gumi's presence had kept them alive.

"Miku." Kaito called from behind her. "I just received a phone call from Lily. Gumi's in the hospital right now. She had a mental breakdown and, well, almost died." He said the last part quietly.

Miku fell to her knees, sobbing, her long teal hair spreading out around her. "I-I should've known...! She was hurt and I couldn't stop her! It's all my fault!"

Kaito hugged her tightly, petting her head. "Come on, it's not your fault. She didn't try to kill herself."

Miku paused. "...then how..."

_Could be blue;_  
_I don't mind._  
_Without you, it's a waste of time._

Gakupo sighed, sitting next to Gumi's hospital bed. She was asleep, but was alive and stable. Her head was bandaged from the crippling blow her sister dealt her in their fight.

The fights were common, but almost all of them were just one sided; Lily would attack Gumi, who would remain silent. This time, however, Gumi fought back. It ended with Lily grabbing Gumi by her grassy hair and bashing her head against the edge of a counter. Gakupo had rushed Gumi to the hospital. The doctors had seen the cuts, and the bruises, and the bite marks. Currently the police were talking to Lily, who was trying to convince them it was an accident.

"Gakupo Kamui, come here." One of the police men called.

Gakupo squeezed Gumi's hand and headed over to the cops outside the room. "What's wrong?"

"Despite your sister's claims, a witness has come forward with proof towards domestic abuse."

Gakupo's eyes widened. "What?! That's ridiculous!"

"I guess it was ridiculous when you forgot to use a condom." A small, high pitched voice came from behind the policemen.

"Miku...?!"

"Every single time you raped her." Miku was quiet. "I should've seen it from the start." Kaito was holding Miku's shoulder, with Meiko on the other side. "Yeah, we noticed things were outta place when we came over. Gumi told us she had no clean sheets, so she and Miku would hafta sleep in the guest room."

"And the fact she was always terrified of you, and how she flinched around you." Kaito piped up.

"And from that," the policemen started, "we deducted that your older sister had something to do with Gumi's other bruises and the head injuries. You both are under arrest."

"N-no!" Lily stepped back. "Gumi has nowhere else to go!"

"We're gonna take care of her." Meiko smiled. "She'll live with us."

Miku smiled her sweetest smile. "I don't want her wearing those dumb contacts anymore."

_Could be blue,_  
_Could be grey._  
_Without you, I'm just miles away._

The strawberry swing was weak and rusted, too much for both Miku and Gumi to sit on. So Gumi sat in the fresh grass, planting new flowers and sowing more strawberry seeds. She grinned up at Miku.

She had healed well, and had gotten over herself. She cleaned up, hadn't cut in months, and was happier than ever.

Miku smiled back down at Gumi, blushing softly. The swing creaked from years and years of use, since now Miku was nineteen, Gumi twenty-one.

Miku rested back against the back of the metal swing, staring at the clear blue sky. "Gumi."

Gumi looked up at Miku, setting her small shovel down. "Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're still alive."

"Thanks, and Miku?"

"Yes?"

Gumi smiled and stood in front of Miku. She set a flower crown on Miku's head gently, then knelt on both knees. "Miku..."

Miku giggled, watching her. "Yes, Gumi?"

"...can a knight become a prince?"

It took a minute for it to sink in, but them she gasped, staring at the diamond ring Gumi held out to her.

_Was this real...?! There was no way Gumi actually...!_

"Yes! A knight can become a prince! It is allowed!" Miku broke into sobs, but this time was worth the tears, for they were met with laughs.

Gumi took Miku's left hand, sliding the ring on her ring finger. She kissed Miku on the lips, pulling away slowly, making eye contact with those beautiful magenta eyes. She picked Miku up, spinning her around gently and holding her close. They both sat, then, in the field of teal flowers next to the strawberry patch under the strawberry swing.

_Could be blue;_  
_I don't mind._  
_Without you, it's a waste of time_


End file.
